Science, Religion, Politics and in the pursuit of truth – HappyPsychotic

Why I’m Not Blogging Much Anymore

// June 11th, 2008 // No Comments » // GlenncloseAuthor: Glenn Name: Glenn C
Email: happypsychotic@gmail.com
Site: http://www.happypsychotic.com
About: Glenn is 36 years old and now lives in a small town in Northern Ontario with his wife of 13 years and 2 kids. He has been a foster parent for 10 years in 3 different cities. He graduated from Radio College of Canada (Toronto) in 1993 as an Electronic Engineering Technologist and has been working in the electronics industry ever since with companies like Nortel. Glenn does a good amount of reading, studying and thinking about such topics as philosophy, psychology, physics (Quantum Mechanics), religion and science. Glenn does have an I.Q. of > 140 (as does Chris) which is categorized as genius but hasn't bothered joining any I.Q. type clubs. He is very logical and analytical and always looking for a way to make a better world - primarily through self-improvement and in helping others to improve themselves. Most importantly, he constantly re-evaluates his priorities and ensures his time is spent wisely - like working on this site.See Authors Posts (92)

If you look at the frequency of my posts, you can see a distinct drop off in the number of posts I’ve done over the last few months.

No, it’s not because I’m busy (90% of the people that say that are using it as an excuse), it’s not because I’ve run out of interesting topics (I have some ideas now that would be more interesting than anything I’ve posted so far), and it’s not because I’ve become bored or lazy with this site.

In fact, the main reason is that my viewpoints on morality and religion have continued to evolve (some Creationists still have a hard time even hearing that word right?), and are now at the point where many of my old friends and family members would be hurt by my words. And I am not in the business of hurting others. Some of my friends, I do still share my thoughts with, and I say “Thank you!” for hearing me out, debating with me etc. without getting offended or angry with me. I think they all would say that I’m staying true to the goal of this site which is to PERSUE TRUTH. Chris and I understand each other theologically about as well as any people can, and he knows what I’m saying here.

So will I ever be able to post my true, uncensored thoughts here again? I hope so, and I think so. But not today, and probably not for a while. I’m sure I’ll find some interesting thoughts to talk about that don’t involve religion directly so you will still enjoy visiting.

If you’d like to hear my thoughts privately, or even want to “witness” to me or “really get me saved”, feel free to email me at happypsychotic@gmail.com . But be warned, if you only want to tell me what is “right” but can’t explain why you think it’s “right”, it will probably be a short conversation. Last year I was called Joseph Smith (the founder of the Mormons) and this year I’ve been called “an antichrist”. The names don’t bother me, in fact, I’m kind of proud of them because they show I’m not a boring sheep, hidden in the flock.

Comfortable with Uncertainty (Book review)

// April 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // GlenncloseAuthor: Glenn Name: Glenn C
Email: happypsychotic@gmail.com
Site: http://www.happypsychotic.com
About: Glenn is 36 years old and now lives in a small town in Northern Ontario with his wife of 13 years and 2 kids. He has been a foster parent for 10 years in 3 different cities. He graduated from Radio College of Canada (Toronto) in 1993 as an Electronic Engineering Technologist and has been working in the electronics industry ever since with companies like Nortel. Glenn does a good amount of reading, studying and thinking about such topics as philosophy, psychology, physics (Quantum Mechanics), religion and science. Glenn does have an I.Q. of > 140 (as does Chris) which is categorized as genius but hasn't bothered joining any I.Q. type clubs. He is very logical and analytical and always looking for a way to make a better world - primarily through self-improvement and in helping others to improve themselves. Most importantly, he constantly re-evaluates his priorities and ensures his time is spent wisely - like working on this site.See Authors Posts (92)

I’ve really enjoyed reading this book “Comfortable with Uncertainty” by Pema Chodron. I see many similarities with Christian teachings here and for those who don’t have a hang-up in comparing other moral teachings with Christian ones, you might also enjoy this book.

Here are some selected passages I copied out…

The Root of Suffering

What keeps us unhappy and stuck in a limited view of reality is our tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain, to seek security and avoid groundlessness, to seek comfort and avoid discomfort. This is how we keep ourselves enclosed in a cocoon.

Heaven and Hell

A big, burly samurai comes to a Zen master and says “Tell me the nature of heaven and hell.”
The Zen master looks him in the face and says, “Why should I tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you? A worm like you, do you think I should tell you anything?”
Consumed by rage, the samurai draws his sword and raises it to cut off the master’s head.
The Zen master says, “That’s hell.”
Instantly, the samurai understands that he has just crated his own hell – black and hot, filled with hatred, self-protection, anger, and resentment. He sees that he was so dep in hell that he was ready to kill someone. Tears fill his eyes as he puts his palms together to bow in gratitude for this insight.
The Zen master says, “That’s heaven.”

Experience Your Life

A woman is running from tigers. She runs and she runs, and the tigers are getting closer and closer. She comes to the edge of a cliff. She sees a vine there, so she climbs down and holds on to it. Then she looks down and sees that there are tigers below her as well. At the same time, she notices a little mouse gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries emerging from a nearby clump of grass. She looks up, she looks down, and she looks at the mouse. Then she picks a strawberry, pops it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly.
Tigers above, tigers below. This is the predicament we are always in. We are born and sooner or later we die. Each moment is just what it is. Resentment, bitterness, and holding a grudge prevent us from seeing and hearing and tasting and delighting. This might be the only moment of our life, this might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could feel depressed about this or we could finally appreciate it. We could delight in the preciousness of every single moment.

Slogan: “Abandon any hope of fruition”

“Fruition” implies that at some future time you will feel good. One of the most powerful Buddhist teachings is that as long as you are wishing for things to change, they never will. As long as you’re wanting yourself to get better, you won’t. As long as you are oriented toward the future, you can never just relax into what you already have or already are.
One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is the feeling that the present moment is not good enough. We frequently think back to the past, which maybe was better than now, or perhaps worse. We also think ahead quite a bit to the future, always holding out hope that it will be a little bit better than now. Even if things are going really well now, we usually don’t give ourselves full credit for who we are in the present.